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C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000489 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/30/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PM
SUBJECT: PANAMA:  MOSCOSO ACTIVELY SHAPING OPPOSITION 
 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR BRIAN R. NARANJO.  REASONS 1.4 (D). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (C)  Asserting the Panamenista Party would not have a 
presidential candidate for Panama's May 2009 elections, 
former President Mireya Moscoso told POLCOUNS on March 27 
that she would work to unify the opposition and have the 
Panamenista Party enter into a coalition with a viable 
presidential aspirant.  While Panamenista Party President 
Juan Carlos Varela might be the titular party head and 
control the party structure on paper, Moscoso asked 
rhetorically, "Why are opposition leaders beating a path to 
my door if I'm just a simple Panamenista Party member?" 
Predicting a bloodbath within the governing Democratic 
Revolutionary Party (PRD), she said that it was imperative 
that the Panamenista Party stop seeking accommodation with 
the PRD, begin opposing the PRD-led government, and lead 
(under her direction) the opposition to unify for the 2009 
elections.  Through a process of elimination of prospective 
opposition presidential contenders, Moscoso suggested that 
the Panamenista party would support former President 
Guillermo Endara.  End summary. 
 
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La Dona on the Move 
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¶2.  (C)  Moscoso said that she had attempted to give Varela 
the space he needed to lead the Panamenista Party, but that 
Varela had repeatedly failed to lead by opposing the PRD-led 
government, but rather preferred to seek accommodation.  She 
said that she was incensed by the personal assaults that she 
had suffered, including Varela's recent barb that there was a 
former female president who deserved to be in prison; "Now is 
the time for me to act." (Note:  Moscoso is Panama's only 
female ex-president.)  Varela had passed up numerous 
opportunities to oppose the government, such as:  penal and 
judicial code reform, transportation, and the UNDP-led 
national dialogue.  She asked, "Why is Varela the only 
opposition leader participating in Torrijos' national 
dialogue?" 
 
¶3.  (C) Moscoso said that she had begun a series of visits 
throughout Panama and had begun to receive a number of 
opposition leaders who wished to consult with her, including 
former President Guillermo Endara and Patriotic Union party 
co-presidents Jose Mulino and Anibal Galindo.  "Varela is the 
president of my party and controls the formal apparatus," she 
said, "but I am the effective leader of the party who is in 
touch with the party's bases." She explained that she would 
not seek an "extraordinary party convention" to topple Varela 
and replace him with leadership that was in synch with the 
party's bases.  Varela would likely challenge the results by 
taking his case to Panama's Electoral Tribunal.  "We are not 
going to let the PRD-controlled Electoral Tribunal meddle in 
our internal affairs," she said, adding, "We need to do the 
best we can with the party that we have now." 
 
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Panamenistas to Back Endara? 
---------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) Lamenting that her party for the first time in its 
history was unlikely to have a presidential candidate capable 
of leading the opposition ticket, Moscoso said that the 
Panamenista Party would need to enter into a coalition to 
support another party's presidential contender.  She was 
dismissive of the Panamenista presidential prospects, 
including Varela, Marco Ameglio, Jose Miguel Aleman, Jose 
Miguel Teran, and Alberto Vallarino, the last of which ran in 
2004 as an independent after failing to secure the 
Panamenista nomination.  (Vallarino and his then-campaign 
manager Varela were expelled from the Panamenista party for 
breaking with party solidarity and were subsequently 
readmitted.)  Moscoso had nothing but invective for 
Democratic Change (CD) Party President Ricardo Martinelli who 
currently leads the polls among opposition presidential 
aspirants.  Referring to Martinelli as a "nut" and "crazy," 
she said that she would not permit her party to enter into a 
coalition with Martinelli.  Moscoso said she thought that 
former VP Billy Ford joined the Patriotic Union (UP) party in 
the "vain" hope that he would be it's presidential candidate; 
UP "will end up supporting the PRD candidate." 
 
¶5.  (C) Moscoso acknowledged that, by process of elimination 
of prospective presidential candidates, former President 
Guillermo Endara would be the sole remaining candidate that 
the Panamenistas could support.  Her recent public lunch with 
Endara, Moscoso said, had helped the two former presidents 
put past differences behind them.  Endara knew that his new 
party, Moral Vanguard of the Nation (VMP), had to have 
Panamenista support if he were to have success, she said. 
(Note:  Endara's long-time political advisor Menalco Solis 
told POLCOUNS on March 13 that Endara would form a coalition 
with the Panamenistas and that Panamenista support and 
nationwide party structure were essential to an Endara 
victory.)  Stopping short of saying outright that the 
Panamenista party would form a coalition with Endara at the 
top of the ticket, Moscoso noted that there was plenty of 
time to form formal alliances for the May 2009 elections. 
 
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Comment 
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¶6.  (C) Moscoso is frustrated by the current state of her 
Panamenista Party led by Varela, dismayed at the opposition's 
disarray in which the leading presidential aspirant is 
firebrand Martinelli, and fearful that the opposition will 
not capitalize on PRD fissures as the PRD determines its own 
leadership and selects its own presidential candidate.  Her 
assessment that former President Ernesto "El Toro" Perez 
Balladares would emerge as the PRD's presidential candidate 
reflected her desire to paint a gloom and doom picture for 
the U.S., probably with the hope that the U.S. would help 
unify the opposition; Embassy Panama is not taking that bait. 
 Nonetheless, shrewd in her assessments and ruthless in her 
tactics, Moscoso remains a political operator with whom to 
remain engaged. 
EATON